i send a monthly mailing to my friend Nita. In another life we worked together and I ran the advertising department and she ran the credit department and our company lived by our weekly mailings. It had sales figures, that week's ad, signing info, etc. So now I send her a much more fun monthly packet of stuff. It usually includes a paperback, a letter and I know she likes stationary so I try to include something.

I recently ordered these little one page scalloped cards from Paper Source.

I had nice colored envelopes from my card making so I lettered her name at the top of the cards and added a colored envelope and volia, you are done! If you don't have mad lettering skills you could stamp something or make a little collage, whatever strikes your fancy. Envelopes also come from Paper Source and are of a nice quality. That is good because Nita only likes nice things.

This is rather fun to do. Go to X-Rite's Color Test and you will see the above graphic. The first and last box stays the same and you drag and drop the other squares until you have a hue order from one color to the other. Then click score test to see how you did. The lower the score the better. Take the test and post your score! And if you did REALLY bad it may mean that you need to calibrate your monitor. Or at least that can be your excuse.

I scored a 12 out of 99. Post your score in the comment section. I hope someone gets a 0!

Sadly I don't think anyone can keep up with all the new things there are to learn. In fact just today my camera said pan L to R for panoramic photo. I had no idea that there was this function. So I ran outside panned and got this. Wow... a whole new thing to look up and learn about. Not to mention this means a long bike ride somewhere to take some great new photos.

But since I share my creative process from time to time I thought I would share about learning technical stuff. I know I have mentioned lynda.com before and have an affiliate link on my site. I pay for this service monthly... it is just $25/mo. And since I am paying for it I thought I should really use it. I try every morning to spend 20 minutes or so working my way though all these things that I should understand in greater detail. I have taken the MobileMe, Wordpress and Facebook classes. Even though I had been using all these apps there was quite a bit a good info that I got. These classes are from 3 to maybe 5 hours long but broken into 3-8 minute segments. Kind of nice to start the day learning something new. Next week I will start the Social Media Marketing with Facebook and Twitter class.

And if you areÂ like me and can never know enough about Photoshop there is a link to the right with some free tutorials.

Over a year ago our sweet friend Phil made this little side table for us and sent it as a kit. We put it together and then moved and it got lost somewhere in the basement.

It has surfaced... and all along I've been thinking that somehow it would be a Paris table embellished with all things Paris... But then we moved here and it seems like it should be a typography table. In black and white with tiny accent colors... So out has come my type ephemera and my thinking cap.

Hmmmm Thinking Caps... we just saw Alice in Wonderland yesterday and I was once again taken with the Mad Hatter. I wish he could make me a thinking cap. Something between the Harry Potter sorting hat that could talk to me and a hat for a tea party. If you are looking for a not for kids fairy tale I recommend it. I loved all the visuals. I've posted a link to the right.

How do we learn? I know I am a visual learner. I also read about what I am trying to figure out but I learn best when someone shows me.

I think my process is somewhat genetic. I think I think like my Dad and my brother. I really admire my brother for the fact that he can do anything he puts his mind to. Absolutely anything and everything. He heats his house with used french fry oil. I think he also runs a car on it too. He is always thinking. And now I see the same thought process in my nephew. We are a family of monkey brains...

In my case I am always trying to figure something out... busy monkey brain... right now it is
howdoImonitizemysitehowdoIsetupapaypaldownloadformyfontsIneed
todosomecrossmarketingwithfacebookandtwitterIdon'treallyunderst
andmobilemeblahblah

I really like the lynda.com site. It is only $25 month. If you sign up for the monthly option you can cancel at anytime. I like the visual learning and they almost always have what I need. I either do a full class (right now I am working my way through the MobileMe class.) Or if I can't remember how to do something in Illustrator or Photoshop I can just look it up quickly. I am going to continue this to learn more about using Facebook for my business and how to make my current site more search able.Â Plus they have an iPhone app. I love anything that has an iPhone app.

Just FYI... I am not paid anything by lynda.com to pitch their product.
ohbutmaybeIshouldbemaybetheywouldhaveanaffiliatemarketing
programmaybeIshouldaskthemblahblahblah

Note: Since writing this post I have applied to lynda.com to become an affiliate. That means if you see an ad on my site and you click on it and become a member I am paid something. May 12, 2010

would like to ask that question once a week to all of my readers. I'd like to share something creative that I am doing and I'd love to have you respond with what you are doing.

Part of why I blog is to force myself to stretch my creative muscle. It is good to think of something interesting to talk about daily or almost daily. Then to take a interesting photo and to share that. But working from home is working in a void. A void that I do enjoy most of the time. When I am happily creative it is a little ivory tower. But I do miss that working in a creative department and having that person at the next desk to show things to. To ask questions of... to just share stuff with.

So I'll post creative things and maybe some of you out there will figure out how to leave a comment and you will share what you are doing. It doesn't have to be 'art'. It can be cooking, or how you are wrapping your Christmas presents or whatever is giving you that little spark of creativity.

Wait... I am hearing some of you say you aren't creative? WHAT? Who ever told you that? Not true. Some of us just practice more. Nothing is too little to share...

I'll start... yesterday and today I am drawing leaves. It is a two-fold project. My friend Brenda Dayne of Cast On fame needs some leaves. And I had already planned a Leaf Doodles font. So I am drawing leaves and rather enjoying myself. A perfect thing to do as I watch the lake try and ice up.

Outside the Line

I'm Rae. I make fonts and blog. I reside in a city on a lake but spend most of the time living in my head.

New Cards!

My Mom always had a box of cards on hand. So, of course I do too. Birthday and all occasion blank cards. 8 for $19. You can order 2 of each card or a box of one design. I especially like to have birthday cards ready to go. Anything to make life a little easier. Drop Rae a line to order. Use the Ask Rae link above.